Rev. Graham on ISIS: Christians Crucified, Beheaded, Buried Alive

(CNSNews.com) – Reverend Franklin Graham, head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the international Christian aid group Samaritan’s Purse, said ISIS jihadists are crucifying and beheading Christians in Iraq and Syria--“people are dying for their faith”--and added that he has heard of “incidences where entire families have been buried alive because they refused to convert to Islam.”

Franklin Graham, son of world-renowned evangelist Billy Graham, said he was also aware of some Muslims who who were fleeing from the bloodthirsty ISIS, stressing that they do not want to see or live under the brutal sharia policies the jihadists were implementing.

Asked by Fox’s Greta Van Susteren about how quickly the situation had changed in Iraq, particularly in the north and eastern regions since December of last year, Rev. Graham said, “It's intensifying. We are seeing now across Syria. And I will get reports out of Syria where Christians, and also in Iraq, where Christians have been crucified. They have been beheaded.”

“I have heard incidences where entire families have been buried alive because of they refused to convert to Islam,” said Rev. Graham. “Greta, these people are dying for their faith. They believe that Jesus Christ is God's Son, who died for our sins, who was buried for our sins, who God raised to life.”

He continued, “And they are being persecuted and they're being killed for their faith. And there are Muslim people too who are fleeing because they do not want to live under this kind of regime. And this is Islam. And people who follow the Koran, the Koran gives them the basis for doing this.”

Van Susteren, host of On the Record, then asked, “Well, how come they are persecuting Muslims as well, if the Muslims -- they all follow the Koran -- how come some Muslims are getting persecuted as well?”

Rev. Graham said, “Well, they're not being persecuted but they're just running. They just don't want to live under this. They don't want to see people beheaded, they don't want to see [people] crucified and buried alive. They don't want their children to see these kind of massacres and to grow up with this hatred.”

“And so, they are running because they don't want to live under it,” said the reverend. “And we've seen this happen in many places. Even in -- when we were in the Nuba Mountains, a lot of those soldiers we were with, Greta, those were Muslims and they were fighting [Sudan’s] President Bashir because they did not want to live under Sharia law, under Islamic law.”

Franklin Graham is married, has five children, and lives in Boone, N.C. His father, Rev. Billy Graham, 95, is in poor health and not expected to live much longer. Over the years, Billy Graham preached to more than 215 million people in 185 different countries, and he wrote 31 books. For more than 50 years he has regularly been ranked among one of the most admired people in the world.